


Slash/ed

by Willowbrooke



Category: Lewis (TV), Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Case Fic, Established Relationship, M/M, Sherlock TV Related
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-23
Updated: 2013-11-23
Packaged: 2018-01-02 11:20:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1056155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Willowbrooke/pseuds/Willowbrooke
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lewis and Hathaway become involved in the world of Sherlock fanfic to help them solve their latest murder investigation.  James explains the finer points of slash to Robbie.  Oh, and Innocent apparently ships Johnlock. :)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slash/ed

**Author's Note:**

> Must blame a crazy plot bunny for this one, because sometimes we just need to laugh at ourselves. It's really not a crossover. It's a Lewis fic, but the story revolves around the world of Sherlock fanfic so I have posted this it in both fandoms. Hope no one takes offense as none was intended. To quote Moriarty, "Just tryin' to have some fun!"

Laura Hobson was crouched over the body, examining the wounds. She glanced up and smiled somewhat apologetically as Lewis and Hathaway, having donned their crime scene suits, walked into the room. 

"Morning, Robbie. James. We really need to stop meeting like this." James gave her a quick smile and a nod as he began a search of the room.

Lewis walked over to examine the body. "Morning, Laura. What do we have?" 

"Our victim was discovered by a co-worker, Diane Jameson, who came to see why she hadn't turned up for work this morning. The door was ajar so she came in and found her friend like this. Says the victim's name is Karen Hughes. She's rather distraught and Constable Barnes is fixing her a cup of tea in the kitchen.

"Cause of death seems to be a single stab wound to the chest, but there are multiple slash wounds to the body as well. The victim apparently tried to defend herself as there are slash wounds on her arms. No sign of the murder weapon. It also appears that she lingered long enough to use her own blood to write this." She pointed to the floor, close to the body, where the word _'Johnlock'_ was roughly painted in blood. 

"Any idea what that means?"

Laura shook her head. "None. But it was obviously important if she used her last breath to write it."

"Time of death?"

"Maybe twelve hours ago, so last evening sometime? I'll know more when I've completed the PM."

While the two of them were talking, Hathaway found the victim's handbag on a table just inside the front door. He reached a gloved hand in and rummaged around until he found what he was looking for.

As he walked back into the sitting room he said, "Driving licence confirms the name 'Karen Hughes,' sir. Date of birth on the licence would put her age at 47."

"Right, I'll go talk to Diane. You carry on here and see what you can turn up."

***

A couple of hours later, Lewis and Hathaway were setting up the crime whiteboard in their office and sharing the information that they had gathered so far.

Lewis began. "According to the co-worker, Diane, the victim was a bit of a loner. She worked as a computer systems analyst. Diane says she was friendly enough, but somewhat shy and regularly turned down invitations to join the others in the office for drinks after work. As far as Diane knows, Karen was never married. Thinks she has a sister in Devon. I've got Julie checking on her background now and looking for next of kin.

"One more thing. Diane says that Karen had mentioned once or twice that she had made some friends online through a mutual interest in writing and sharing fictional stories."

James took his turn. "That ties in with some of the research I've been doing. The term, 'Johnlock' apparently refers to a pairing between John Watson and Sherlock Holmes. It's most often used in the online fandom of the BBC series 'Sherlock' and is often the subject of fan fiction."

"Fan fiction?"

"Yes, sir. Sometimes shortened to 'fanfic'. It apparently dates back at least to the 17th century when a man writing under the name of Avellaneda produced a fake sequel to Cervantes' _Don Quixote_. There was some speculation that it may have been Cervantes himself, but more likely a 'fan' who wanted to continue the story. 

"And in the late 1800's, there is substantial evidence that many young girls were writing alternate endings to Louisa May Alcott's _Little Women_ to suit their own desires." 

"James, I'm sure that's all bloody fascinating, but can you tell me what I need to know that specifically ties this fan fiction writing to our murder." Lewis regretted his impatient tone almost immediately and it showed in his face.

Hathaway looked briefly puzzled, but continued. "Sorry, sir. So, most fanfic today is written by people who are fans of certain television shows, movies, books and the like. These works generally focus on the main characters in the series and the stories can be related to actual episodes of the series or the characters can be placed in completely different situations.

"The internet has given writers of fanfic a way to share their work with people who have similar interests and some of the forums allow these writers to interact with each other through private messages, which appears to be something our victim did.

"I've got Gurdip going through Karen's laptop now and so far, he has found a large number of works of fiction that appear to be original. It seems she was quite a prolific writer of fan fiction. She was using the online pen name 'GildedRose.' It looks like she posted stories on a few different sites, but there was one site in particular she seemed to favour. This site does allows users to message each other so it's possible we will find a lead there.

"Gurdip is now attempting to access those messages. If she used her dying moments to write something that pointed to this aspect of her life, it seems logical to assume that she might be trying to implicate someone she had contact with through one of these sites."

Lewis nodded. "Seems as good a place as any to start. Have we heard from Laura yet on the post mortem?"

"Not yet." Hathaway hesitated briefly, considering Lewis's mood, before continuing. "Sir, in the interest of preparing you for a possible interview with someone tied to this online activity there is a fair bit more you should know about fan fiction and in particular, the Sherlock fandom. Should I brief you now?"

Lewis looked as though he was about to tell his sergeant exactly what he could do with his briefing, but instead he nodded and said, "Yeah, all right. But I didn't get me breakfast this morning and I could do with a bite. Can you tell me over lunch and a pint?"

"Yes, sir." James looked a bit relieved as they grabbed their jackets and headed for the door. Before they could make it out of the building, however, Chief Superintendent Innocent found them.

"Laura has given me a brief overview of the situation, but I'll expect a full report from you two later this afternoon. So, this murder is tied to the writing of Johnlock?"

Lewis and Hathaway exchanged subtle, amused looks before Lewis responded. "Yes, ma'am. Do you know what it is?"

"Of course. I'm a big fan of the show and well, the chemistry between them is...well, let's just say that I can understand where the desire to pair them comes from." At this point, she blushed slightly and looked as though she wished she could retract what she had just said. Instead, she retreated to her position of authority and gave them both a withering stare. As she walked away she threw a last demand over her shoulder. "Remember, my office. This afternoon. I want some answers."

As they exited the building they were smiling. It was Lewis who voiced what they were both thinking.

"Did that just happen?"

James nodded. "Who would have thought that our 'all business' Chief Super is a closet slash lover."

Lewis gave him a confused stare and Hathaway opened his mouth to explain.

Lewis held up his hand to stop his sergeant from continuing. "Not now. Haven't had me pint yet, have I?"

***

When they were seated with their food and pints, James gave his boss a concerned look. "Robbie, are you okay? You seem a bit...tense...today."

Lewis sighed and responded, "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry I've been a bit short-tempered this morning. It's just that every new dead body gets me thinking that maybe it's finally time to chuck it in. I'm not getting any younger and now that you and I...well...I have so much more in my life than the job now. I know we've talked about it and I know you've been giving some thought to what you might want to do. Any road, I'm not making any sudden decisions and I'm certainly not doing anything without making sure that it's our decision and not just mine. Just having a bad day is all. Nothing to worry about."

James breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad that's all it is. You know I'm more than ready to call it quits any time you are. 'You go, I go.'" He lowered his voice and leaned forward slightly to whisper, "I don't care where we go or what we do, as long as it's together."

"Aye, and as long as that's true, nothing else really matters. We'll get all the rest sorted when it's time, yeah?" 

James nodded, smiled and managed to not reach out and cover Robbie's hand with his own. 

Robbie gave him a look that told him he understood the restrained impulse and smiled in return.

"Right then, you need to tell me everything I need to know about fan fiction and the Sherlock 'fandom.' Is that what it's called?"

"Yes, I actually found it all rather interesting."

Robbie smiled fondly and said, "Why am I not surprised? Go on then."

"Well, I know you are familiar with the BBC version of 'Sherlock' with Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as we've watched them all together."

Lewis nodded. "Yeah, I quite enjoy that one. Very clever and well done."

"Yes, it is. Well, there are a number fans of the show who feel that John and Sherlock's relationship goes beyond friendship." He grinned. "It seems our own Chief Inspector may be one of them. Anyway, some of them see evidence of that relationship in canon, or in other words, in the actual show itself. Others don't see it but want it to happen enough that they write stories about it. Are you with me so far?"

Robbie nodded and James continued.

"Regardless of the particular fandom, one very popular form of fan fiction writing is called slash. It's a genre of fanfic that pairs characters of the same sex in romantic or sexual relationships and is named for the slash (/) symbol used to separate the character's names in headings for the stories. In the case of the Sherlock fandom, the pairing of John and Sherlock has been given the additional label 'Johnlock' and it has reached a popularity of epic proportions. It is arguably the most shipped slash pairing in the history of fan fiction."

"Bloody hell. You just lost me. In English we say?"

"Sorry. Shipping means you're a fan of that relationship, or pairing. I suppose the easy explanation for all of this is that there are a great many fans who want to see John and Sherlock in a romantic or sexual relationship. It seems unlikely to happen on the show, so in order to fulfil their fantasies about these characters, they write stories about them being together instead."

"Why didn't you just say that in the first place?"

"I thought it was important for you to have a basic grasp of some of the terms in fan fiction in case you need it in an interview."

Robbie sighed and nodded. "Okay, go on."

"It seems that Karen posted works in a few different fandoms and she wrote many different kinds of stories, but the vast majority of what she wrote was Johnlock. I've been reading through some of her work and she had some talent as a writer. The plots are quite well developed and she seems to have a clear understanding of character motivation. And having watched the series, I think she has quite an accurate take on their 'voices.'"

Robbie couldn't help but laugh. "Sorry. Just trying to picture you reading this 'slash' stuff and analysing it for quality."

James smiled in return. "Laugh if you will, but don't dismiss it until you've read some of it yourself. The well written ones are quite...entertaining. Besides, they might help you solve the case."

"Well right now, what will help us is Laura's report and Gurdip's progress on Karen's laptop. Best be on our way."

"Right." They downed the last of their pints and headed back to the station.

***

As Lewis and she stood over the body, Laura Hobson delivered an overview of the results of the post mortem to him.

"The victim died of a single stab wound to the chest. As you can see there are also four slash wounds to the body. Three on the arms and one on the chest. She must have held her arms up in an attempt to protect herself. 

"Based on the angle of the wounds I would say that the killer was approximately the same height as the victim and based on the damaged area around the wounds, the force was not excessive so possibly another woman?"

"Thanks Laura. I'll read through this and let you know if I have any more questions." Lewis took the complete post mortem report she handed him and returned to the office to find Gurdip talking to James.

"I managed to access the message account," Gurdip was saying. "I think there may be some useful information there, but I'll let you take the first look at it. I'm going to start reviewing CCTV footage from her neighbourhood." He set the laptop in front of Hathaway and left.

James busied himself with reading those messages while Lewis reviewed the PM report in detail.

When he had finished making notes on the whiteboard regarding the report, he returned to his desk and glanced up at James. "So, in the interest of the case, maybe I should read one or two of these fan fictions."

James grinned at him. "Excellent idea, sir. I'll email you the link to the most recent posts on the Sherlock page."

Lewis opened the link in his email and glanced at the list of works. He chose one that was 100 words to start. He clicked on it and read it.

He was frowning a moment later when he spoke. "I thought you said this stuff was pretty good. That was complete drivel." 

James walked over to Lewis's desk and leaned over his shoulder to see what he had been reading. 

"Ah, that's because it's a drabble. A fanfic work limited to precisely 100 words. I image it's quite challenging to tell a story in 100 words, so yes, I suppose some of them are drivel." He snickered at his own little joke.

Lewis merely glared at him. 

James glanced through the list and found one he had read earlier that was well done. "Here, try this one," he said as he clicked on the link. He returned to his desk and tried to focus on the messages he was reviewing. He glanced up a few minutes later to see that Lewis was blushing slightly but he had a smile on his face as he read. James smiled too as he returned to his own reading.

When Lewis finished the story, he looked up. "Hmm. Have to agree it was well written and it was interesting. The dialogue seemed realistic." He paused for a moment and the pink tinge returned to his cheeks. "At least, in the bits where they were talking." 

James laughed. "Yes, well, we are sometimes forced to new experiences for the sake of the investigation."

A short time later, Hathaway sat up fully in his chair with a satisfied smile on his face.

"Sir? The edge of excitement in James's voice caused Lewis to look up. "I think I may have just found our murderer."

***

Three hours later, they were facing their suspect across the table in the interview room. Mavis Woodard was fidgeting and kept her head down as she answered their questions briefly and quietly. Her body language certainly seemed to indicate that she was someone with something to hide. 

The private messages that James had discovered earlier contained several heated exchanges between Mavis and Karen related to plagiarism. Mavis had accused Karen of stealing her ideas for stories and she had threatened Karen with harm if she didn't delete those stories immediately. 

Lewis, with his years of experience interrogating suspects, managed to skilfully integrate his newly acquired knowledge of the world of fan fiction with his tried and true method of asking pointed questions and waiting patiently for answers . Hathaway played his role of sympathetic supporter of the suspect...their own version of good cop/bad cop. Their practised skills as a team soon yielded results and it didn't take long for her to crack.

She began to cry and the confession came quickly. "You know I live in Maidenhead, so it's not that far. I came up to Oxford intending to scare her. That's all. I mean, for all intents and purposes, she stole from me and I just wanted to make her understand how wrong that was and how much it hurt. I thought we were friends.

"The stories we write are labelled 'slash', so it seemed like some sort of poetic justice to 'slash' her. But honestly, I only meant to scare her with the knife. You know, 'slashing' the air around her. I wasn't going to touch her, but she kept taunting me. Telling me I was useless at writing and that she was doing me a favour taking my ideas and writing 'proper' Johnlock stories. Well, I snapped, didn't I? Never meant to kill her, but I can't say I'm sorry she's dead."

***

After arresting and booking their suspect and completing all the required paperwork, it was nearly half eight by the time they arrived back at Lewis's flat. The instant the door shut behind them, James had Robbie pinned back against the door while his mouth hungrily sought out his governor's. Lewis smiled under the kiss and returned it with equal desire and passion.

As James pulled back, Robbie chuckled as he righted himself. "Best save that for later, or we'll end up with our dinner all over the floor."

"Sorry, but I've been dying to do that all day," James looked only slightly remorseful as he turned loose of Robbie, took the bag containing their favourite Chinese take away from Lewis's hand and headed for the kitchen. "It's getting harder and harder to keep my hands off of you during the day you know," he said over his shoulder. "It was especially hard at the pub this afternoon."

"Aye, that's all the more reason for us to think about making a change," Robbie replied as he headed to the fridge to grab a couple of beers. "But that's a discussion for another night. Right now, food, beer and a maybe a bit of Lewis/Hathaway slash later." 

That made James laugh out loud. "Well, I don't think that's a correct use of the term, _sir,_ but I'm all in favour of the concept." 

As they settled on the sofa and tucked into their food, Robbie had one more thing to say on the subject.

"I know it was important for me to understand the details of the fan fiction community for interrogation purposes, but you didn't really think that having me read some of that slash stuff was going to help solve the case did you?"

"No, but I was surprised when I read a few and realized that I actually enjoyed some of them. I thought you might too."

Robbie nodded. "I did actually. And I can sort of see the Johnlock thing. There's a definite chemistry between them. They work closely together and know and understand each other better than anyone else knows or understands them." He smiled as he added, "Remind you of anyone?"

James smiled back. "We do investigate murders." He gave Robbie a lustful look. "And we definitely have chemistry. Maybe someday someone will write fan fiction about us."

That made Robbie laugh. "Lewis and Hathaway stories? Can't imagine that there would ever be anyone besides us interested in reading those." 

"Who knows. There may be one or two Lewis/Hathaway shippers out there."

They both smiled at that thought as they cleared up the leftovers, took care of the dishes and headed to bed.


End file.
